Ford Ironman 70.3 California - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt pretty good on the swim. Water was warmer than I thought it would be. Neoprene hoodie was probably a bit too much. Given my relative lack of time in the pool, I'm happy with my swim time.

Swim faster, sight the high rise a bit better. I probably added 200 yards or so to my total distance by swimming crooked.

I took a bit of time to put on arm warmers - in hindsight it was a complete waste of time... didn't need 'em.

Stopped at the port-a-john on the way out.



Practice transitions a bit better on brick days.

As I warmed up, I thought (like some others had posted) that I had a rock in my right shoe. I tried shaking it out, to no avail. No worries, I adjusted the pressure on my foot as best I could and tried to focus on my watts and cadence. Things were fine. The north bound ride was fantastic and set a strong pace with the wind at our backs - tried to keep things upbeat and talked to lots of folks as I passed by. Was passed a few times myself, but tried very hard to remind myself that this was a training race and the goal was to finish healthy and strong with plenty in the tank for a big week on the bike.

Hydration:
After having only a small polar bottle to start the race, I was able to catch up after the first aid station.
Aid Stations:
1 - one water bottle
2 - one water, one gatorade, half banana. I really do not like gatorade...
3 - two bottles of water - I will pay for this on the run...

Nutrition plan: one GU and one Accel gel per hour
Nutrition actual:
1 gu (plain) & 1 Accel gel (vanilla) per hour + 1 additional gu at 40 miles
1 half banana at 30 mile water station
Nutrition total: 4 GU, 3 Accel gel, half banana = ~750 total calories


Not a lot, but I really wanted 20 mph avg...
Add a drink with sodium - not gatorade - to help my body retain some of the fluids I took in...

The guy I was stuck behind simply refused to pedal through the transition area before the dismount line) - lost what seemed like a day here... geez.

Found out that the "rock" in my shoe was actuall a nice gash on the ball of my right foot. Uh oh, this is gonna hurt... I changed my bloody socks so I wouldn't destroy my new runners. Check my album for a photo of the actual wound...

Nutrition: 1 package of shot blocks

Faster, faster, faster....

Some background: When not injured, I'm a fairly strong runner. Last years knee injury and subsequent time off forced me to be a bit more conservative. Averaging 100 miles/month since September with very little speed work has made me slow and steady... That said i went into the run with a goal of sub 2 hours. I'm fine with that, well not really, but for today I will have to be.

First lap felt a bit long, I wasn't able to get into a very good rhythm and was constantly thinking "when is the knee going to start hurting?" Turns out that was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. At mile 4.5 I felt it prudent to walk a bit to relax the knee and give it a break. Walk/run. At this point I'm thinking it's going to be a long day. I decided to run to the next water stop and see how things felt. They felt bad. Walk/Run continues until I get to the pier on my way back to transition on my first lap - then I stopped. Tried stretching my left quad and hammy to even things out a bit, get the knee back into the right mode. There was another guy in my age group doing the same thing - we must've passed each other 3 or 4 times. Turning past the gypsy (?) lady in the water stop by the turn I made the decision that this was not going to be a long day and that I would, in fact, not walk any more. Passed the family before the dirt downhill and hit the turn-around with a new motivation.

At this point a negative split was going to be easy - my first lap was miserable. Thinking back, I feel it was more of a mental game than an actual physical problem. Three days post race, my ITBs are a bit tender, but otherwise everything feels fantastic.

Laps
1 - 1:09:11 (avg HR 139) 10:33 pace
2 - 0:50:30 (avg HR 165) 07:43 pace



Need to fix my knee - or at least the way I perceive knee's impact on my running. It seems as though the slower I go, the more it hurts - so next time I need to go faster.

Not much of one - walked to the pizza tent - two slices and a banana and a couple bottels of water.


Not too much other that what I've already described in the run section.
This was a training race for IM CDA in June and I really only wanted to see where my fitness was. Turns out I feel like I'm on track for a shot at <=12:00:00 in June so long as I can continue to build my bike fitness and get past this mental block on the run.


Still had a bunch of gas in the tank so my overall goals were achieved - nearly finished with the splits I'd hoped for:
Goal/actual
SWIM - 0:40:00 / 0:37:21
BIKE - 2:35:00 / 2:53:21(missed my bike goal by 0:18:21)
RUN - 2:00:00 / 1:59:41

Transitions sucked - no excuse, must practice more...
Run fitness is there, just a basket case with the knee and thinking about IM CDA in June...

Overall a great time and would love to do it again.